10 years
by purplecat21
Summary: Reid was Hotch's son for 10 years, what would happen now? story about Reid after being de-aged for 10 years.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone, this story popped into my head and i had to write it, let me know what you think, good or bad, thanks**

He never knew that 10 years could feel like 10 minutes. They had been told that the effects of the drug could last for years but they never expected it to last this long. Personally he was glad that it had taken so long and he would have been just as happy if the effects had been permanent.

—

10 years he had waited. He had waited for his life to continue, he wanted to just pick up where he left off but now things were different and he wasn't sure they would ever feel "normal" again. He felt like they were all watching him, expecting him to need their help, but he didn't need their help now, did he?

Maybe he did need their help, he didn't know how to live this life anymore. He wasn't as

confident as before, he wasn't used to working such long hours anymore, he wasn't used to being able to make every little decision for himself anymore, who was he now?

—

As they all sat at the conference table he watched the young man sitting across from him, the man that he had treated like his son for the last 10 years. He thought this would be easy, that things would be the same as always but they would have a closer relationship that they had before this happened.

He didn't know how he could make things better, talking about it hadn't worked very well, he just hoped in time that they would be able to relax around each other again.

—-

He could feel the uneasiness with the others whenever they were together, it was like they didn't know how to treat him, the last 10 years had changed all of their relationships in different ways and now they were all unsure of how to act and they all wanted to talk about it, everyone except him.

"Alright my crime fighters today you are off to Miami where a group of young women have all

gone missing together. They were all seen together last at a nightclub celebrating a birthday two nights ago, the bartender said they all left together around 1am and no one had seen them since.

That was until one of the ladies washed up on a beach this morning and was found by a local fisherman." Garcia said as she turned away from the gruesome images on the screen

"Do we know all of the women that went missing? How many are there?" Asked Rossi

"Three ladies were reported missing the morning after their celebration when they had failed to show up at home or work, and so we have their identities, the birthday girl is Sandra Marble, and her two friends Mandy Carulo and Amanda Berry. The lady that was found on the beach is 26 year old Mandy Carulo, the ME is doing an autopsy as we speak to determine the cause of death."

"Wheels up in 20" Hotch said as he stood up and headed toward his office.

—

10 years ago:

"I can do it Hotch!" Exclaimed Spencer as he tried for the third time to get his sock on without

much success

"I'm sure you can, but how about you let me help you because we are running late" Hotch said trying to keep the frustration out of his voice

"Fine!" Spencer cried dramatically throwing his hands in the air.

—

"Hotch? Are you with us?" Asked Morgan snapping Hotch out of the memory

"Yes, sorry continue Garcia"

"Yes sir, so we have found out that Mandy was new to the area and had only met the girls recently through the birthday girl Sandra Marble, the two met through their workplace when Mandy transferred from California"

"Thanks Garcia, when we land Morgan and Prentiss, you go and talk to the ME, Reid and JJ you go to the sight she was washed up and see if you can find anything else and Rossi and I will go to the station and start talking to the families of the girls"

"Are you ok Aaron?"

"Yeah Dave I'm fine"

"How are things with you and the kid?" He asked quietly

"I think it's going to take time for both of us to adjust to the situation, he needed me so much for the last 10 years and now..."

"Now he doesn't, and I'm sure that's hard on both of you"

Hotch looked out the window and didn't respond

"He will still need you, you know. He needs to learn how to be an adult again, he will need you to be there for him for guidance and reassurance"

"I thought so too but he doesn't even want to talk to me about what he's feeling or going through, it's almost as though he's mad at me, like it was my fault that it happened to him...I suppose it was my fault that we didn't get to him quickly enough"

"It was not your fault and Spencer knows that, but maybe he's blaming you because he had no one else to blame, the man that did this was put to death a year ago. Just give him time and I'm sure he will come around"

—

"Me and mrs Carulo, I'm so sorry for your loss." Hotch started as he sat down to talk to the

distressed couple "I understand that this is incredibly hard for you but anything you can tell me about Mandy or the girls she was with on Thursday night will be helpful"

"All she told us was that she was going out for drinks with sandy, a girl from work because it was her birthday, she wasn't really looking forward to it because she didn't know the other girls that were going, but because she was new in town she thought it might be a good way to meet new people" mrs Carulo said tearfully

"Did she tell you anything else? Where they were going? How late they planned to be out?"

"No she just said they were going to a restaurant for dinner then to a club for some dancing, she didn't expect to be out too late because they had work the next day"

"Ok thank you for your help" Hotch walked out of the room and immediately called Garcia

"Boss man, how can I help?" She answered cheerfully

"I need you to see if there are any cameras outside of the nightclub that might have seen them leaving and where they went or what kind of car they got into"

"Right away sir"

"The cause of death was drowning, there were trace amounts of drugs in her system but not

enough to have caused her death" Spencer said as he and JJ walked in to the conference room at the station

"Garcia has found some footage of the girls leaving the club and getting into a white car

registered to Amanda Berry. According to the video they headed west before we lost sight of

them" Rossi said

As they all started going over the case files again and going through the new information that

Garcia had sent to them Aaron glanced over at Spencer, they needed to talk about a lot of things but it would have to wait until they solved this case and went home again.

—

10 years earlier:

"HOTCH!" Reid was screaming when they stormed into the house

Morgan kicked down a locked door and the first thing they saw as they entered the room was Reid laying on the floor and the unsub standing over him laughing, "Hahahahaha! You may have caught me but it's too late! He will be changed! The formula was

perfect!"

"What do you mean? What did you do?" Demanded Hotch as Morgan restrained the unsub and Emily rushed to Reid's side and confirmed that he was breathing

"I have given him the best gift ever! He will get a chance to live again! To start over!" The crazy man yelled

"Get him out of my sight!" Growled Hotch "I'll deal with him later"

Reid was still unconscious as the medics came in and put him on a stretcher "Im going with Reid, Rossi you go to the station and see if you can get some sense out the unsub, call me when you have any information"

At the hospital Hotch refused to leave Reid for any reason. The doctor had examined him and couldn't find anything wrong with him, they tested him for drugs and found an unknown

substance but because they couldn't identify it they couldn't guess at what it would do to him.

Finally Rossi called with some news

"Well he was very forthcoming, he explained that he injected Reid with some sort of serum that will reverse the aging process" Rossi explained

"The doctors found traces of the drug in his system but nothing has happened to him, he is still the same as always."

"Apparently it takes time to start working, we should see the effects within a few days he told us."

"And how long do these effects last? A few day? Weeks? Months?" Hotch asked fearing the answer

"That's the worst part, he is not sure how long it will last but he thinks it could be years before he returns to normal"

—

"I've been doing some digging into both of the girls that are still missing since we have no leads on who could have taken them, so, it looks like Amanda and sandy have been best friends for a very long time, they went to school together and have been friends ever since." Reported Garcia

"Maybe there is no other unsub" speculated Reid " maybe the two girls planned this and decided to kill Mandy?"

"Maybe Amanda was jealous of Sandy's relationship with Mandy?" Added JJ "girls can be very jealous if they think their best friend is going to replace them with someone else"

"Garcia, do you have any information about where Amanda might have taken them?"

"The only place in her name is her apartment and no one has been there since before they

disappeared, but I'll do some digging and let you know if I find anything"

"It will probably be somewhere near water or with a access to a pool" Reid added before she

hung up

"Morgan and Reid I want you to go to Amanda's apartment and see if you can find anything"

Hotch ordered "JJ and Prentiss you go to Sandy's place and look for anything there"

"Hotch, I think we have something, we found an old scrapbook at Amanda's with pictures of her from when she was a child up until she was a teenager at a beachside cabin. It looks like the families regular vacation spot there are even some later photos of her and sandy there together."

"Thanks Reid I'll call Garcia"

"Ok so I have been able to find the house that Amanda's parents rented out every summer, looks like no one has been there in years and it was forclosed and is waiting to be demolished, I've sent the address to your phones"

"Thanks Garcia, we're on our way"

20 minutes later Hotch led the team into the house, as they searched through the rooms Rossi came upon the two girls laying on one of the beds.

"In here" he called as he checked for a pulse "they're dead" he announced as the others entered the room

"I found a note from Amanda, it says that if Sandy isn't her best friend then she can't be anyone's friend, so it would seem like she killed sandy then killed herself, there are also drugs in the kitchen" Reid informed them

—-

10 years ago:

The first thing Reid saw when he woke up was Hotch's worried face "Hotch?" He said quietly

"what happened?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired but ok..I think"

"You were injected with some sort of drug by the unsub, the doctor is unsure what sort of effect it will have on you"

"He was some sort of crazy scientist he kept telling me to enjoy my second chance at life?

Whatever that means" Reid yawned "can I go home now?"

"The doctor wants to keep you here overnight just to make sure you're ok but you should be able to leave in the morning"

"Ok, I'm fine now Hotch you don't have to stay, go and get some rest yourself"

"I'm not leaving you Reid, I'll get some sleep here, and we can leave together in the morning" Hotch replied

The next morning Reid woke up feeling fine and after the doctor had examined him again he was discharged.

Hotch and Reid headed straight to the jet to meet the rest of the team, when they got out of the car Hotch could have sworn that Reid looked a little shorter than normal.

Once the jet was in the air Hotch decided that he had to tell Reid the truth

"Reid I have to tell you something" he started

"What's up Hotch?" Reid asked cheerfully, happy to be on his way home

"Well... the unsub told Rossi some information that doesn't make a lot of sense, he told him that he had injected you with a home made serum that will reverse the aging process"

"That's not possible, there has been study into such a thing but nothing that can physically

change a person like that" Reid objected "and look at me, I look the same as always!"

"We know it doesn't sound possible but he said that it will happen gradually over a few days, so now we just have to wait and see if anything happens"

"But...how...what if it does happen? How long did he think the effects will last?"

Hotch hesitated before answering quietly "a few years at least"

"So..." Reid started "I..."

"It's ok Reid, if anything does happen then we will do everything we can to fix it" Rossi assured

"So, what, I'm going to turn into a child again? What am I supposed to do? Go back to Vegas and live in the institute with my mom?"

"No you will be staying with us, we won't abandon you Spence" JJ told him

"That's right Reid we'll take care of you" Morgan added

For once Reid was lost for words.

—

Present day:

"Ok Reid lets go, see you guys tomorrow" Hotch said as they got off the plane and all headed to their cars

When they got home Reid headed straight for his bedroom, "goodnight"

"We need to talk Reid" Hotch started

"I'm tired, we'll talk later" Reid said as he shut his bedroom door

—

10 years ago:

"I think it's probably best if we keep this to ourselves for now, and you should come home with one of us just in case anything does happen" Hotch said

"I don't need a babysitter!" Spencer started "not yet at least. I'm going home. Alone!"

"Spencer..." Hotch started

"No Hotch, I'm going home, I need some time alone to think about things. I'll call you if I need you, ok?"

After thinking for a few moments Hotch finally replied "ok, but I'll be checking in so keep your

phone with you, if you don't answer I'll be coming over in person to check on you"

"Fine" Reid shrugged as he walked away

"One of him needs to be with him Hotch!" Morgan objected as they watched Reid leave.

"I agree, but that's not what he wants and if he really does become a child again this could be his last chance for a bit of alone time and privacy. And little does he know, but I'll be on his doorstep at 7am to see for myself that he's ok"

"I'll meet you there" the younger man agreed

As promised Hotch and Morgan arrived at Reid's apartment at 7 in the morning and they were shocked by the sight of Reid as he opened the door

"Hi" he said in a small voice, Reid looked like he was about 15 years old

"It happened!" Was all that Morgan could say

"Are you ok Reid?" Asked Hotch

"Yeah I'm fine, except for the fact I'm 10 years younger than I was yesterday"

"Well I think that settles it, you're coming home with me" said Hotch decisively letting himself into Reid's apartment

"You'll need to get some stuff to bring with you, books, personal items, that sort of thing"

"So is this what it's going to be like now? You're just going to make my decisions for me?" Reid yelled

"Calm down and think about it rationally for a minute, you can't live alone, what if you keep

getting younger? A child can't live alone and you know it" Hotch said in a calm voice.

"I'm not a child!"

"No but you are in the body of one, what if someone saw you walking into your apartment all by yourself and called child protective services and they took you away? What then? How would we explain you to the authorities?" Hotch tried reasoning

Spencer thought about it for a minute trying to find a flaw in Hotch's logic, "Fine! Whatever!"

He said as he stormed into his bedroom and slammed the door.

"Good luck with that attitude Hotch" laughed Morgan

"He'll be ok when he calms down and adjusts to the situation"

"I wonder if he will get any younger? And what are you going to tell the director? We can't take a 15 year old to work with us ?"

"I don't know how I'll explain it, lucky we have today off so I can think about what I'm going to say without sounding like a crazy person" sighed Hotch

"Uh oh" said Morgan suddenly "Garcia"

"Good point" smiled Hotch "Garcia will love a mini Reid to spoil, good luck telling her" he laughed clapping him on the shoulder.

"She going to think I'm insane!" Morgan laughed

"I'm glad you guys think this is funny!" Reid called from the bedroom

"We are not laughing at you pretty boy" Morgan called back

The bedroom door opened and Reid came out dragging a huge bag full of books "can someone please help me with this"

"Do you really need all these books?" Hotch asked

"Yes I really do and I will need to get some new clothes, these are all too big for me now" Spencer said pulling up his pants for emphasis

"We can go shopping on the way back to my place, and how about we buy you a kindle so you don't have to drag all of these books around with you?"

"But I like real books!" Reid whined

"I know but I just think that for now it will be easier" Hotch said

"I'll think about it, but for now I'll just take these"

Hotch followed Spencer around the boys section in target as he moaned that the clothes were all horrible and he wouldn't wear any of them, eventually he had enough "Spencer, you only need a few things until we make sure you are going to stay this age, so just pick something" he said firmly.

"Why don't you just pick some things for me then, I really don't care" Spencer declared folding his arms and turning away from Hotch, "you're determined to make all my decisions for me anyway"

A mother with her teenage son looked over at Hotch and smiled after hearing Spencer's last

remark, "isn't this a wonderful age" she laughed and Hotch smiled at her in response. "Yeah it's adorable" he joked

They finally agreed on a few things and decided they could find some more "Spencer" style

clothes later if this was permanent.

After they arrived home Hotch carried Spencer's books up to jacks room, " this will be ok for

tonight and then I'll sort the guest room out for you after that, ok?"

"Whatever" Spencer shrugged

"Spencer, I understand you are upset about what is happening and you have every right to be but this attitude needs to stop, I'm only trying to help you"

Spencer sat down on the bed and started looking through his books

Hotch sighed "ok well Rossi has invited us all to his place for dinner so we can all talk about the situation so feel free to have a shower and get cleaned up before we leave"

A few hours later Hotch still hadn't seen or heard Reid so he went to check on him "Reid" he

called softly as he knocked on the bedroom door, getting no answer he opened the door and saw Reid asleep on the bed. Hotch gently shook him "Reid, wake up, it's time to go to Rossi's"

"Hmmm" Reid mumbled as he woke up and turned to look at Hotch, "I'm not hungry"

"That's ok, you can come and watch us eat then" Hotch said as he stood up and walked towards the door "we're leaving in 10 minutes"

A few minutes later Spencer came downstairs "do I really have to go? Can't I just stay here, I may look like a kid but I'm really an adult"

"No you can't stay here alone and I'm sure you will have things to add to the discussion"

"Let's just go and get this over with then!" Spencer said as he walked out the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone, thanks to the people that reviewed the first chapter, sorry I made you wait so long for this update, please keep reading and reviewing, thanks!**

 **A/N : Hailey is not dead in this story, so Hotch only has standard weekend visitation with Jack.**

Spencer couldn't believe what was happening to him, he couldn't believe that crazy man had worked out how to reverse the aging process. How much younger will I get? Who will take care of me? What if I get taken away from the team? What if they don't want to take care of me? What if they think I'm just a burden to them?

The 'what if's' wouldn't stop going around and around in his head. His adult mind was trying to tell him that it would all be ok but his teenage mind didn't believe him.

Reid followed Hotch inside when they arrived at Rossi's place; he stood behind his boss as they entered the kitchen, embarrassed to have the rest of his team mates see him.

"Hey Reid, Hotch, come and sit down" invited Rossi "it's nearly ready I'm just waiting for the timer to go off"

Everyone greeted him normally as he took his place at the table, to their credit, none of them

stared or made stupid comments about how young he was. The "what if's" started in his head again as he ate his dinner and he didn't even hear the conversation going on around him until Morgan nudged his arm, "you've been very quiet kid, what do you think of all of this?"

"All of what? Sorry I wasn't listening"

"We were talking about who you should live with" JJ said "we all would love to have you, so it's up to you, you can make that decision for yourself"

Reid considered his options, he loved all of them and didn't want to choose and hurt anyone's feelings "I don't know" he finally said looking down at his plate

"That's ok Reid, for now you can stay with me and if you decide later that you would prefer to stay somewhere else then we can organise it, ok?" Hotch suggested

"Ok"

"Now we just need to come up with a plan to propose to the director so we can keep you with us and maybe even keep you working" Rossi said

"Well I've been thinking that maybe he will agree to let Reid work remotely when we get called out on cases, he could stay with Garcia and work from the office?"

"Sounds good Aaron, hopefully the director will agree to that" Said Rossi

Reid didn't hear anything after that he just hoped that he wouldn't get any younger, he didn't know how he would cope being an even younger child.

Hotch didn't sleep well that night, he was worried about what the director would do, would he let Reid work remotely? would he let Reid stay with them?

It turned out that he shouldn't have worried so much, the director agreed with Hotch's plan unless Reid got younger, if that happened then they would have to come up with another solution.

Reid was waiting in hotchs office until he had finished with the director, all he kept thinking was that the director would say to send him back to his mother and then he would be on his own again, like before. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, he knew how to look after himself, it was the being alone part that he didn't think he could cope with again.

"Hey Spencer, I brought you some hot chocolate, and I made you some cookies" Garcia said as she entered the room

"Thanks Garcia"

"Don't you even be worried about this meeting, Hotch will sort this out, he always does. He's an excellent negotiator and always ends up getting what he wants" she smiled and sat on the couch next to him

"I'm not worried" he lied "I just want to get back to work already; I'm just sitting here wasting

time"

"Well soon enough I'm sure you will be, but right now drink your hot chocolate before it gets cold"

Hotch walked in with a smile on his face "Good news, the director has agreed that you can keep working as long as you stay this age, but you can't come away on cases because it will be too dangerous"

"That's fine, I'll take what I can get. What if I do get younger?" He asked nervously

"We will just have to cross that bridge when we come to it"

"Ok"

"Garcia, I'm sure you have some work to do" Hotch said as he sat down at his desk

"Yes sir, right away, I was just delivering some refreshments" She answered as she got up and left his office

"How are you feeling Reid?"

"I'm ok I guess, I just feel a bit hopeless at the moment and I'm worried that I'm getting younger."

Hotch looked at Reid trying to see any difference "What makes you think that?"

"Well for a start these pants are getting bigger and I just feel younger. What is the plan if I become a toddler? Or a baby? Will you still want me then?" Reid's lip started to tremble and he looked down at his hands

Hotch got up and went over to sit next to Reid, "Spencer I will always want to take care of you, no matter what age you are, believe that I will always fight for you" he placed a hand on Reid's back trying to give him a small measure of comfort but keeping in mind that Reid didn't like to be touched

"If you turn into a young child then I would like you to stay with me if you would like that, I'm not sure what would happen when I have to go away on cases but I'm pretty sure that I could find a crazy tech analyst that would love to have you"

"What about Jack?"

"I only have Jack every other weekend and I'm sure he would love to have someone there that's closer to his age"

"Thanks Hotch, I better get to work" Spencer said as he got up and headed for the door

By the end I of the day Spencer was having real trouble with keeping his pants up, he was getting smaller. He held them up as he walked into hotchs office, "Hotch I'm definitely getting smaller, my pants just keep falling down, do you have a belt I can borrow?"

"Sure" he replied pulling one out of his go bag "I think we need to go shopping again and maybe buy a few smaller sizes this time" Hotch said as he watched Reid struggle with the belt

"No, I hate shopping!" Whined Reid

"Well I could send Garcia?" Hotch smiled

"No no that's ok" Reid smiled

"I'll be done soon and then we can go, have you finished all of your paperwork?"

"Yes I finished an hour ago and I've been helping Morgan with his"

"Ok well why don't you do some reading while you are waiting for me then"

"What do you want for dinner Spencer?" Hotch asked as they left the office.

"Could we get burgers?"

"Sure thing, we'll stop and get some clothes first then we'll get some dinner"

At target Hotch and Reid quickly picked out a few outfits in different sizes "we can't buy all of these" Reid said looking at the huge pile

"Yes we can and if you don't need them then we can return them, now let's go find you some shoes"

"Can I get a new book?" Spencer asked hopefully

He reminded Hotch of Jack, always asking for something new when they were out,

"I suppose so" he smiled

Spencer tried not to think about what was happening to him as he ate his burger, he tried not to think about what he would look like by the next morning

Hotch was woken up early the next morning by a strange noise, it was coming from Spencer's room. He rushed down the hall and opened Spencer's door without knocking, on the bed he could just make out a huddled shape sitting in the middle of the bed sobbing.

Hotch turned on the light and was surprised to see that Spencer was now the size of a 3 year old.

Spencer looked up at Hotch with tears running down his face "look at me!" He cried

Hotch wanted to pick him up and comfort him but he knew that Spencer would hate that so he sat on the edge of the bed "it will be ok Spencer, we knew this might happen"

Spencer let out a forlorn wail and threw himself into hotchs arms. Hotch held him as rocked back and forth gently until Spencer finally started to calm down.

"What's going to happen now?" Spencer cried sitting on hotchs lap with his head resting against his boss' chest

"Well just like the original plan, you can stay here with me and I'll take care of you, as for work we will have to talk to the director again and see what he will allow" Hotch explained in a soft voice as he rubbed Spencer's back

Reid started crying again "I had an accident" he sobbed into hotchs chest "that's what woke me up"

"Oh buddy, that's ok let's go and get you cleaned up alright?" Hotch said in a soft voice

Hotch carried Spencer into the bathroom, "I'll be right back" he said as he placed Spencer on the floor.

Hotch went into his wardrobe and pulled down a box full of Jacks old clothes hoping they would fit Spencer. He found a pair of underwear and some clothes and carried them back to the bathroom

"Spencer I'm coming in" he said as he opened the door "here, I found you some clean clothes to wear, now would you like to have a bath?"

"Yes please" he answered quietly looking at the floor in embarrassment

Hotch started filling the bath and then turned to Spencer to start undressing him

Spencer was horrified by the whole situation, he knew that this was a possibility but he had been trying not to think about it. Now he had no choice but to think about it, he had woken up when he wet the bed and when he looked at himself he couldn't hold back the tears.

Worst of all was his boss trying to help him get undressed like he really was a child "no hotch! I can do it myself!"

"Ok sorry, you do it" Hotch said turning the water off and waiting for Spencer to get undressed.

"Turn around; I can't do this why you're watching me!"

Hotch put his hands in the air and turned around "ok but let me know when you're ready so I can lift you in"

Once Hotch had lifted him into the bath he left him alone to have some privacy "call me when you're done"

Hotch sent Rossi a message while he was waiting

"Reid is now about three years old, can you inform everyone for me so they are all aware of the situation"

A message came back quickly

"Sure Hotch, do you need me to bring over anything? Breakfast maybe?"

"Breakfast sounds good, thanks"

Hotch went back to the bathroom to check on Reid "how are you going in there, are you ready to get out?"

"Yes I'm done"

"Ok, I'm coming in" Hotch announced as he walked in with a towel, he quickly lifted Spencer out of the bath and wrapped the towel around him "I'll just be in the next room if you need some help" Hotch said knowing that Reid would insist that he could dry and dress himself

Reid finally came out of the bathroom "do we have to go to work today?" Reid asked "I don't want everyone to see me like this"

"Rossi is coming over with breakfast for us and then we will have to go in at least for a little while, I've spoken to the director and he wants to see us"

When Rossi arrived Reid was sitting on the couch watching TV as Hotch went to open the door.

"Hi Dave, come in"

"How is he Aaron?" Rossi asked quietly

"He's as good as can be expected, he doesn't want anyone to see him like this but knows he

Hasn't got much choice so he's understandably upset"

"Hi Reid" Rossi called as he walked into the kitchen "are you hungry kid, I brought choc chip pancakes and croissants"

Rossi and Hotch busied themselves setting the table when Reid finally stuck his head around the door "hi Rossi" he said quietly

"Good morning Spencer, come and eat while it's still warm"

Spencer was nervous as Hotch pulled into the parking garage, he was not looking forward to the team seeing him like this, especially Garcia, she would want to cuddle him for sure.

Over breakfast they had discussed him staying at work and he was hopeful the director would allow him to, but he was worried about what Hotch would decide if he couldn't stay at work, would he be so mean as to put him in day care?

If I walk behind Hotch hopefully no one will notice me, Spencer reasoned to himself as they entered the building.

Walking into the bullpen the first person to spot them was Emily, "Good morning Hotch, good morning Reid" she greeted

Next were Morgan and then JJ, they both said good morning and then went about making coffee like always. Maybe this won't be so bad, thought Reid, everyone is treating me like normal. Then Garcia walked in,

"Good morning Hotch, good morning my little genius" she greeted them as she leaned down and held her arms out hoping for a hug. Spencer hid behind hotchs leg and hid his face like a real child would

"I don't think he wants a hug right now Garcia" Hotch said looking down at his small charge

"Sorry pumpkin" Garcia said hastily taking a step back

"Come on Spencer let's go and see the director" Hotch said trying to take a step forward with Reid still gripping his pants. Hotch held out his hand to the boy and without thinking Spencer took it and followed along

"Aww that's too cute" said Garcia as she quickly snapped a pic

"I wonder what the director will say?" Mused Morgan

"Well he better say that my baby can stay with us!" Declared Garcia

"I'm sure he will be able to stay with us but I don't think the director will let him work like that" Rossi said

An hour later Spencer came running into the bullpen and ran straight to the first team member he saw "Emily! The director said I can stay!" he smiled "isn't that great?"

"That's wonderful Spencer" she smiled down at him

"Ok can everyone meet in the conference room and we will discuss what's going on" Hotch said as he walked through the bullpen

"Ok so the director has agreed to let Reid keep working on a trial basis for now. He will be able to type up his reports to make it easier, but he is not allowed to come away on cases with us. He will stay with Garcia while we are gone and still be able to help as needed. The director also wants him to have a weekly psych appointment to make sure that he is coping with the work."

"Yay! We get to hang out in my lair my little genius!" Garcia said happily

"The other thing is that Reid needs to have a rest after lunch every day"

"But I don't need to do that!" Protested Reid "you're not really going to make me do that are you Hotch?"

"Yes I am, you are in the body of a child and you will get tired easily, you can come into my office and have a rest on the couch, ok?"

"Fine" he said grumpily

"Now as the unsub said this could last for a few years, I'm going to take custody of Reid, so Garcia I will need you to help me with the paperwork, for all intents and purposes Reid will now be my son and that's our cover story if we need to use it"

"I'll start getting that organised sir" Garcia said as she rushed off back to her office

"So now you all know what's going on, it's time to get back to work"

After lunch Hotch watched as Reid walked back to his desk and climbed up onto his chair.

"Reid, my office" he called as he stuck his head through the door

"Damn, he remembered" Reid mumbled

"I'll go and have a rest for you if you like" laughed Morgan

"Hotch I have work to do" Reid tried protesting as he walked into Hotchs office

"You're work will be there later, now lay down and have a rest please" Hotch replied not looking up from his work

"But I'm not even tired!"

"Then read a book, you don't have to go to sleep but just have a rest ok?" Hotch said in a voice that he used to calm jack down

Spencer reluctantly went and got a book and laid down on the couch to read. Within minutes he was asleep.

Present day:

Reid was still asleep the next morning when Hotch woke up, maybe the smell of coffee will wake him up, thought Hotch as he made himself a cup and sat down to read the newspaper.

"Morning Hotch, is there coffee?" Reid said as he came into the kitchen 10 minutes later

Hotch tried not to smile "Yeah I just made some. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm fine" Spencer said as he poured himself a cup of coffee

"Ok then, what would you like for breakfast?" Hotch asked

"You do know that I don't need you to make me breakfast anymore, right?" Reid snapped

"Of course I know that Spencer" Hotch started in a placating voice "I was just thinking I might

make some pancakes. I didn't mean to imply that you couldn't get something for yourself"

"I'm not hungry" Spencer said sitting at the table and staring into his coffee

"Please just talk to me Spencer" Hotch started "what's going on in your head?"

"There is nothing to say, except I'm glad that I'm finally back to normal"

"We're all glad that you are back to normal but I still think you need some time to readjust to having your old life back" Hotch said "Maybe you should take a few weeks off, I can even organise some counselling for you if you would like to speak to someone"

"I don't need time off I just need to get back into my old routine, and with that in mind I'm going to look at apartments today"

"Oh" Hotch said trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice "do you want me to come with you?"

"No that's ok; Morgan's going to come with me"

"You know that there is no rush for you to move out, I'm happy for you to stay here as long as you want to"

"Thanks but I need my own space now"

"Ok then" Hotch said quietly, "I think I'll go for a run" and he got up and left the room

Spencer felt bad for the way he was treating Hotch and he knew that Hotch just wanted them to be able to maintain their "father and son" relationship but Reid didn't know how to do that now.

For the last 10 years he relied heavily on Hotch and then all of a sudden he was an adult again, now he had to learn how to look after himself. And surely Hotch would be happier now that he could live his own life without having to take care of a child.

While Hotch was running he couldn't help but think of anything except Spencer. He could understand that he would want to move out and have his own privacy, but he had hoped that Spencer would just continue to live with him, at least until he had gotten used to being a grown man again.

Aaron had become a father to Spencer in every way, he adopted him, he looked after him, he did everything a father would do for his son. He treated Spencer the same way he treated Jack, and he loved them both the same way, maybe that's why he was having trouble letting him go.

—


	3. Chapter 3

**Thankyou to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, please keep reading and reviewing, thanks!**

Hotch was woken up by his phone ringing, "Hotchner" he answered "ok I'll be right there" he said hanging up and glancing at the clock, 3am, what a wonderful time he though sarcastically. He got up and got dressed before going to wake up Spencer, "Spencer" he said quietly as he sat on the edge of Reid's bed "wake up buddy, we have a case"

Spencer mumbled something incoherent and pulled up his blanket. "I got ya" Hotch said as he picked him up and wrapped a blanket around him, lucky their go bags were already in the car. This was their first case since Spencer had been turned into a child so he hoped that Garcia would be able to cope with the extra responsibility of looking after Reid while working

Spencer didn't even stir when Hotch strapped him into his car seat or when he took him out again and carried him into the BAU; he took the sleeping child into his office and laid him on the couch before going to the conference room to meet the team

"Reid is in my office Garcia, he is still asleep so he might be confused when he wakes up, now what's the case about?" Hotch said as he walked into the room and sat down

"Well a body has turned up in Texas with stab wounds all over his body and three fingers missing from each hand"

"Is this the first body?" Asked JJ

"No it's the second body within two weeks, the first one was a young woman named Tania Harris, same thing, she was badly stabbed and missing three fingers from each hand"

"Wheels up in 30" Hotch said as they all stood up and went to get their things together

"Garcia, you might want to work in my office until Spencer wakes up"

"Yes sir"

"His bag is in my office, it should have everything you need in it. JJ told me that you can always call Will to come and get Spencer if it becomes too much for you, ok"

"Oh I'm sure that we will be fine sir, but I'll keep that in mind if it all gets too much for him"

"Thanks Garcia, he's still reluctant to accept help for anything so let him do as much as he can for himself, he hasn't really come to terms with being a child again and realising that he needs help with things"

"As I said, we will be fine, now get your stuff and go before the jet leaves without you"

"Ok I'll just go and say goodbye to Spencer"

"Let him sleep sir, when he wakes up he can call you if you like"

xxxxxxxxx

Where am I? Thought Reid as he woke up, I'm not in my bedroom anymore. He rolled over on the couch and the first thing he saw was Garcia sitting at Hotch's desk.

"Garcia?" He called

"Good morning pumpernickel, did you have a nice sleep?"

"What's going on, where's Hotch?"

"The team got called away this morning so you're stuck with me" she smiled "good thing you're awake I need to get back to my office, the team will be landing soon so I need to be ready, come on" Garcia got up and grabbed Reid's bag

"Can I get dressed first? I don't want to walk through the halls wearing my pyjamas" he yawned

"Sure honey" she said taking an outfit out of his bag and handing it to him "do you need me to help you?"

"No I'm fine" he sighed "why does everyone want to help me with everything?"

"Because you are adorable and we want to make your life as easy as possible, that's why, so you should do us a favour and just except the help" she said smiling at him

xxxxxxxxxx

"He will be fine Hotch" Rossi said

"Hotch was absently looking out the window "I know but what if he needs me?"

"He has Garcia, and I'm sure she can deal with anything that comes up"

"You're right Dave,... it's just hard being away from him already"

"I think we're all feeling that way. I know that JJ has already been sending msgs to Penelope to check on him"

"She sent me a message saying that he's awake and has had breakfast, so I know that he's fine but I still worry about him, the same as I do when I'm not with jack"

"That's what fathers do" replied Rossi

Hotch didn't answer but went back to staring out the window and hoped they would be able to solve this case quickly so he could get home to Spencer.

xxxxxxxxxx

The team had been working on the case for 2 days, Reid had done a geographical profile and they were getting closer to finding the unsub.

"Naptime Spencer" Garcia announced as she handed him a sandwich

Spencer yawned "The team might need my help, I can't sleep now"

"Yes you can and if the team need you I'll wake you up, ok?" Reasoned Garcia

"But...but..." Spencer said trying to find another excuse

"No more arguing"

Spencer pouted but did as Garcia told him and ate his lunch then went and laid down on his small bed, he ran over the events of the last few days in his head. He had gone from being an independent grown man to being a 2 year old in Hotchs custody; it was insane to think that it could actually happen. The team, especially Hotch, had always looked out for him but now it was worse than ever, they all wanted to do everything for him and make all of his decisions. They decided on what he would eat, when he would sleep and even what he would wear. Hotch had even carried him into the office the other night like he was a baby who couldn't walk on his own.

They needed to realise that he could still be independent and do things for himself, he had never needed anyone to look after him when he was a real child, and he had survived. He knew that Hotch was waiting for him to start acting like a child but he was determined to fight all the voices in his head telling him that toys looked like heaps of fun and cuddles when he was tired would be great. He didn't need any of that did he?

When Spencer woke up Garcia was taking a picture of him,

"Stop that!" He said sitting up and stretching

"Sorry sweetie, I can't help it, you're too cute!" She exclaimed reaching down and picking him up and giving him a squeeze

"Stop it" he squirmed

Garcia just laughed and kissed him on the head before putting him down

"So the team are about to board the jet. They caught the guy hiding in a local motel room. So I was thinking that now that we have some time we should go shopping. I heard that you are still wearing Jacks hand me downs?"

"Yeah but that's ok I don't need new clothes" Spencer said

"Well I can't bear to see my baby genius wearing second hand clothes when there is no need too, so let's go, and I'll let you pick whatever you want, within reason ok? And maybe we could get some ice cream on the way?" She smiled

Forgetting his rule to act like an adult at all times, Spencer started cheering "Yay! Ice cream!

Can I get coffee flavour? I looooove coffee ice cream!"

"I think that Hotch would kill me if I gave you coffee, but you can have any other flavour"

xxxxxxxxxx

The problem with clothes for children his age was that they were all so babyish. He couldn't wear T-shirts with dancing bears on them to work! He found a nice shirt but it had tiny dinosaurs all over it, and despite insisting he didn't want it, Garcia brought it anyway claiming that it would look adorable on him. The other problem with shopping was that he had to act like a normal 2 year old child so people wouldn't notice him so he sat in the shopping cart and tried not to die of embarrassment.

"What about this sweetie?" Garcia asked holding up a plain white shirt with a small blue bow tie

"Sure, that could be good for work" he replied quietly making sure that no one was close enough to hear

Garcia added the shirt to the huge pile of clothes in the cart already, "ok I think we have enough for now, let's pay and then get ice cream!"

In spite of himself Spencer smiled, he loved ice cream.

xxxxxxxx

"What flavour do you want honey?" Garcia asked as they walked into the ice cream shop

Looking at the smiling shop lady he looked up at Garcia and did his best impression of a 2 year old, "chocolate!" He cried clapping his hands

Smiling Garcia turned to the lady at the register, "I'll get a chocolate baby cone and a large mocha swirl thanks"

Spencer took the ice cream cone from the lady and didn't waste a minute before he started

enjoying his frozen treat

"Say thank you baby"

"Thanks" he mumbled around a mouthful of ice cream

Garcia smiled as she watched Spencer enjoying his ice cream. He really needs to just give in and embrace his second chance at a childhood, if he would only see it as a blessing in disguise, he could have the kind of childhood that every child wants. He is surrounded by people who love him and want him to be happy, he's finally free to have a little fun without worrying about looking after anyone. He can finally be taken care of and spoilt the way every child should be.

"Ok sweetie, time to go now, I told daddy that we would meet him at his place, ok?"

"Ok" Spencer replied he was looking forward to seeing the rest of the team and in a weird way he was missing Hotch

xxxxxxxxxx

"Honey I'm home!" Laughed Morgan as he walked into Hotch's house.

"Hi everyone!" She called back "we'll be down in a minute, dinners on the table!"

Spencer came running into the dining room all freshly washed and in a clean pair of pjs.

"Hi guys!" He greeted everyone

"Hey pretty boy!" Morgan answered

"Hi Spence" smiled JJ

"Hi buddy" said Hotch bending down to Spencer's level. To the surprise of both of them, Spencer threw his arms around Hotchs neck. Aaron rubbed his back as he stood with the boy in his arms

"Miss me huh?"

All of a sudden Spencer realised what he was doing and got embarrassed "no" he said quietly, squirming to be put down "I'm just tired, you can put me down now"

"Ok then, have you had something to eat yet? This looks delicious" Hotch said looking at the food on the table

"Yeah I helped Garcia make everything then we ate before I had my bath" Spencer yawned

"Ok well how about you sit with me while I have something?" Hotch suggested

Hotch picked him up and sat him on a chair beside him while they all got comfortable to eat.

As Spencer listened to the team talk about the case he tried to stay awake but he couldn't keep his eyes opened, when Hotch picked him up and put him in his lap Spencer didn't even object, he was too tired to fight it and laying against Hotch was comfortable.

The next thing Reid knew he was being tucked into bed. "I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone!" He whined as he realised what was happening

"Well it's too late now they have just left, but the ladies all kissed you goodnight"

smiled Hotch

"Ahhhh!" Mumbled Reid as he rolled onto his stomach and snuggled into his pillow

"Goodnight" Hotch said as he left the room

—

When Reid woke up the next morning he carefully went downstairs and found Hotch in the

kitchen making pancakes

"Good morning Spencer." Hotch smiled

"Good morning Hotch" Spencer replied

"So Spencer" Hotch started "Haley is dropping Jack off today to spend the weekend with me..."

"I understand, I'm happy to go and stay with one of the others..."

Hotch smiled "no that's not what I was going to say, we need to discuss what we are going to tell Jack and Haley before they get here that's all"

"Oh, ok"

"I was thinking that we tell them that you are just staying with with me for a while, then when they get used to you being here I'll tell them it's become a permanent situation. What do you think?"

"What happens if I stay this age until I turn back? How will you explain that?"

Hotch thought about it for a moment, "Well if that's the case I'll come up with something, a rare disorder or something that stops you from growing?"

"I suppose that could be believable. What do you want me to call you while Jack is here? I can't call you Hotch? And won't Jack think it's weird that I have the same name as one of your co workers? And where will I sleep? I can't sleep in Jacks bed?"

"You can call me Aaron if you like or daddy if you feel Iike it? I'm sure Jack won't even think about the fact you have the same first name as someone I work with and I have been meaning to go shopping and get you your own bed and things to make the spare room your bedroom, maybe we could all go and do that today? The only thing is that while Jack is here you'll have to act like a real 2 year old"

"Well until they get here I'm going to go and read for a while" Reid replied taking his book and getting comfy on the sofa

When the doorbell rang Spencer put his book on the coffee table and turned on the TV while Aaron went to answer the door

"Hi Jack, hi Haley" Hotch greeted them "come in"

"I can only stay for a minute, I'm on my way to have lunch with my sister" Hayley said as she

walked into the room.

"Oh who's this?" She asked as she spotted Spencer on the sofa

"This is Spencer, he will be staying with me for awhile, why don't you go and say hi Jack?" Hotch smiled

Jack excitedly jumped onto the sofa next to Spencer "hi! I'm Jack!" He said getting right in his face.

Spencer flinched back without meaning too and Aaron quickly picked him up and sat him on his lap "it's ok Spencer this is Jack, he's going to be here for the weekend"

"Hi" Spencer said quietly

Hayley was watching this with her arms folded and a look of disapproval on her face "Aaron why is he here? Surely there are better places he could be? Where are his parents? What about foster care? How do you think you can take care of him with your work schedule?"

"I can't tell you everything at the moment but he will be staying with me for the foreseeable future, work is not an issue, I hired a nanny to be here when I'm called away unexpectedly, not that it's any of your business" Hotch replied shortly

"Hmmm well I just hope that you have more time for him than you did for us!"

Hotch stood up and placed Reid back on the sofa "Hayley now is not the time to discuss this.

Don't you have lunch with Jessica to get to?"

"Yes I do. Jack come and give me a kiss goodbye"

"Bye mum" jack said giving Haley a kiss and hug goodbye "Spencer do you want to come and play in my room?"

"Goodbye Haley" Hotch said as he closed the door behind her and turned to the kids "ok boys you can play for a few minutes then we are going to go shopping. Jack how would you like to help me choose a bed and some toys for Spencer so we can set up the spare room for him?" Hotch smiled

"Yeah dad! That sounds like fun, can I pick out some toys for me too?"

"Ill think about it" Hotch laughed

Great, thought Reid, how can I act like a real kid? I have no idea how to be a normal child!

What do they do for fun?

"Jack go and put your bag in your room and then we'll get going?" Said Hotch

Once Jack had left the room Hotch turned to Spencer "it's ok Spencer I won't let him pick out toys that are too babyish"

"How do I be a child Hotch?"

"Well you just need to let go of all your troubles and let your imagination take over, play, laugh and just try and have fun, does that make sense?"

"I'll try I suppose" Spencer said sounding dubious

—-


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone, thanks to everyone who has started following this story and thanks to the people who reviewed the last chapter. Please keep leaving reviews I really enjoy reading them and seeing what you think about the story so far. Hopefully the story is making sense but if you have any questions for me please feel free to ask.**

 **Chapter 4**

"Hey dad, can we get Spencer a race car bed?" Jack asked running up to the red car shaped bed

Spencer just looked at Hotch with a look of horror, "I don't think Spencer likes cars THAT much, maybe a normal bed would be best"

"Oh, ok I guess" Jack said sounding disappointed

They finally settled on a bed with a blue metal frame "I hope you guys are going to help me put this together when we get home?" Hotch asked as they left the store "ok, now where to?"

"The toy shop!" Jack said enthusiastically

This was the kind of thing a normal kid would be happy about so Spencer smiled and said "yes!" In the most enthusiastic voice he could muster

xxxxxxx

At the toy shop Spencer had to admit that some of the toys looked like fun, the LEGO could be very interesting and the science kits could be fun to try. As soon as they had walked in Jack had taken off and was running ahead looking at everything "dad can we get this?" He called pulling out a remote controlled car

"We are here to buy some toys for Spencer but I suppose you can get something for helping me" Hotch smiled

"Excellent thanks dad, I promise I'll let Spencer play with it too"

Hotch smiled down at Spencer "go and pick out some stuff" he said encouragingly

What would a normal 2 year old want to play with? Reid thought to himself looking around. Spencer spotted some small toy dinosaurs and went to have a closer look.

"You can't get those they're too small for you! You might swallow them!" Jack said looking over his shoulder

"It's ok Jack I'm sure he won't put them in his mouth" Hotch smiled.

"Ok" Jack shrugged, "you'll be the one taking him to the hospital dad"

Hotch laughed and put the pack of dinosaurs in his cart

As they went up and down the aisles Reid picked out a few more things like some cars and a race track, some books and a toy dog that was small and had soft velvet like fur.

"How about this dad?" Jack said running out of one of the aisles "it's buzz light year! We have this movie at home, I'm sure Spencer will love it!"

Spencer had no idea who the robot was but it looked like it could be fun. "Please?" He asked Hotch quietly

"Sure, but I thinks that's enough for today" he said as he looked down at the tired toddler, "come here buddy" he said as he picked Spencer up and sat him on his hip, despite the angry look he was getting.

While they were waiting in line Spencer laid his head against Hotch's shoulder and closed his eyes, being 2 was exhausting.

"Can I just say how adorable both of your boys are sir!" The lady scanning the items commented, Spencer opened his eyes and glared at her

"Thank you" Hotch replied as he paid for all the toys

xxxxxxxxx

Spencer woke up a few hours later, he opened his eyes and looked around, and he realized that he was in Hotch's bed. That's weird, he thought, why would I be in here? Spencer got up and walked down the hall and ran into Hotch coming out of the spare bedroom and closing the door behind him.

"Did you have a good nap?" Hotch asked looking down at the disheveled toddler

"Mmmm" Spencer replied rubbing his eyes "why was I in your bed?"

Hotch motioned for Spencer to follow him downstairs, once they were in the kitchen Hotch answered his question

"I put you in my bed so that I could assemble your new bed for you, and now Jack is in there decorating your room for you, he was very excited about making it fun for you" Hotch laughed

"Ok I'll act surprised when he's done"

"Thanks Spencer"

Hotch lifted Spencer up onto a chair and placed a bowl of fruit in front of him

"I don't like bananas" Spencer whined looking into the bowl and pushing it away

"They're good for you so please just have a little bit for me" Hotch said in a quiet voice

"Ok, but just one bit!" Spencer compromised

"Good boy" Hotch smiled and ruffled his hair as he walked past him to make himself a coffee

"I think I'm nearly done dad! "Jack called from upstairs "can you bring Spencer up in 5 minutes?"

"Sure buddy" Hotch called back

After waiting the requested five minutes, Hotch asked Spencer, "are you ready?"

"yes"

Hotch knocked on the bedroom door "are you ready?"

"Come on in baby brother and take a look at your new room!" Jack said as he opened the door

Looking around as he walked into the room he was surprised, he didn't think that Hotch had brought him that much stuff, there were bookshelves with toys and books and games and a set of drawers that he was sure had a heap of clothes in them and his new bed was all set up and made nicely with his new linens. On the bed sat a few stuffed animals, a dinosaur, a bear and the small dog he picked at the toy shop. Spencer didn't know how to react; he had never had anything like this.

"What's wrong with him dad?" Jack asked when Spencer didn't say anything

"He's ok Jack, he's just not used to having so much cool stuff all of his own" Hotch explained as he rubbed Spencer's back

"It's ok Spencer, this is all for you!" Jack said trying to get him to be excited "do you want me to show you where I put everything?"

Spencer just nodded his head. Hotch watched as Jack took his hand and pointed out where all of his new toys were "I also put some of my old toys and books in here for you too, dad told me you have been wearing my old clothes until you got some new stuff and I thought I should give you my things that I don't play with anymore"

"Thanks" Spencer said quietly not knowing how he should feel.

"Do you want to play cars with me?" Jack asked

"Ok" Spencer replied getting his new cars off his shelf and sitting on the floor, he watched Jack take a car and run it around the floor making "broom broom" noises and then just copied his actions

Hotch watched them for a few minutes and took some sneaky pics "I'm just going downstairs boys, call me if you need anything ok?"

"Yes dad" Jack answered for both of them

—

After Hotch left them Jack had heaps of questions for Reid "so Spencer where are your Mum and dad?"

Reid wasn't sure how to respond to that so he just decided he would play the dumb two year old, "mummy?" He said and looked questionly at jack

"yeah where is your mummy? My mummy is at another house" Jack explained.

Spencer just looked at him and shrugged then went back to playing with his cars.

"Do you have a dad? Why can't you live with him?"

Again Spencer didn't answer

"Maybe you're too young to know where they are, you're lucky to be staying with my dad. We have heaps of fun together but he has to work a lot" Jack told him

Spencer didn't know how a two year old would respond to that so he ignored it and kept playing.

xxxxxxxxxxx

All Hotch heard was a bone chilling scream and he dropped his coffee and ran up the stairs two at a time and found both boys in the hallway crying "what happened" he asked as he went straight to Spencer and picked him up

"It was an accident dad, I swear!" Jack said with a look of horror on his face.

"It's ok Jack just tell me what happened" he said trying to sound calm while looking at Spencer who was holding his hand and crying

"I thought he was out of the way and I pushed the door shut, but he was holding onto the side of the door and I jammed his fingers" Jack sobbed

"Hotch pulled him into a hug "it's ok Jack, I know you didn't mean it"

"It's ok Spencer, show me your hand" he said calmly

"No, no no" Spencer said in between sobs

"It's ok buddy show me" he said holding up Spencer's tiny fingers to have a look

Spencer's fingers were red and puffy but as Hotch felt them they didn't feel broken and he let out a relieved breath

"OW OW OW!" Spencer cried when Hotch touched his fingers

"You're ok buddy" Hotch said letting go of his hand and rubbing his back in a soothing way "let's go and get an ice pack"

"I'm sorry dad" Jack kept saying as he followed Hotch into the kitchen

"I know you are and I know it was an accident but next time please try and be a bit more careful, ok?" He said putting one arm around Jack to comfort him too

"Let's go and put a movie on, what do you want to watch Jack?"

"Let Spencer choose, he's the one that's hurt" Jack said sitting on the couch

"What do you think he would like to watch, he doesn't know what movies we have" suggested Hotch

"Ok then how about toy story? He might not have seen that one"

"Good idea buddy" Hotch said sitting Spencer on the sofa and then finding the DVD and turning it on

Spencer was sitting on the sofa still looking very upset so Hotch went and sat next to him and was surprised when Reid climbed into his lap. Jack looked jealous for a second and then ran upstairs

When he came down a minute later he was holding the toy dog Spencer had picked at the shop, "I thought he might like this to cuddle" he said giving the dog to Spencer

Spencer didn't want the dog, he wanted his fingers to stop hurting but he knew most kids his age had a toy they liked when they were tired or upset so he took the dog off Jack and said muttered "Thanks"

Hotch smiled and kissed Spencer's head and they settled down to watch the movie

Spencer found the movie fascinating and while he was watching he didn't even notice as his thumb made its way into his mouth and he snuggled the dog against his face

"Dad, Spencer's sucking his thumb" Jack smiled

Spencer was beyond embarrassed and quickly pulled his thumb out and buried his head further into Hotch, "That's ok jack, that's what young children do, I remember when you used to do that"

"I did not!" He protested

Hotch laughed "Yes you did, but luckily you grew out of it"

Just then, Hotch's phone beeped with an incoming message from Emily, "just checking in to see how Spencer is going" she wrote

Hotch quickly typed a reply "he's fine, just getting used to playing his role as baby brother to jack"

"Oh that sounds like fun, lol. I was thinking of getting Chinese for dinner, would you like me to drop some off for you guys?"

"Hey guys" Hotch said to the boys "how would you like Chinese for dinner?"

"Yum!" Cried jack enthusiastically

"Ok" said Spencer quietly

Hotch typed another reply to Emily "sounds good, thanks"

"No worries I'll see you soon" Emily replied

"Now boys" Hotch started "my friend Emily from work is bringing us over dinner so I want you to both be on your best behavior ok?"

"Yes dad" jack answered automatically, Spencer just smiled and said "yes Aaron"

"You call him Aaron? That sounds weird, just call him dad like I do" Jack said turning back to the movie

When Emily arrived they had just finished the movie and were about to watch the second one

"Hi Prentiss, come in" Hotch greeted her

"Hi Hotch, how are things going?" She asked quietly

"Things are going ok, the boys are getting along well, thanks for bringing us dinner"

"That's ok, I thought you might have your hands full" she smiled

"Hi boys, how are you?" She said brightly as she walked into the living room

"Hi Emily!" Jack said happily

"Hi" Spencer said waving at her

"Come and watch toy story 2 with us!" Jack said patting the spot on the sofa between himself and Spencer

"Maybe we should eat first, then watch the movie before bed" Hotch interrupted

Spencer was trying really hard to eat his sesame chicken and rice without making a mess but more of it was ending up in his lap than in his mouth and he let out a frustrated sigh

"Would you like some help Spencer?" Hotch asked

"No! I can do it"

"Ok" Hotch conceded putting his hands in the air

After a few more minutes of trying Spencer put down his fork and used his fingers, he was still making a mess but at least some of the food was going in his mouth

Emily listened to Jack as he told her all about their day and all the fun they had setting up Spencer's new room.

"Sounds like you guys had a great day" she said once he was finished with his story

Hotch looked over at his youngest who was trying very hard not to fall asleep at the table "bath time Spencer" he announced getting up and reaching for him

"No I don't need a bath" he yawned

Emily laughed "Yes you do, you have sauce in your hair"

"Can Emily watch the movie with me while you bath Spencer?" Jack asked

"That's up to Emily, she might have other plans for the evening" Hotch answered

"Sadly no plans, I'd love to watch a movie with you" she replied happily

"I wanna watch too!" Spencer protested wiggling around in Hotch's arms trying to get down

"I'll think about it after your bath" Hotch said carrying him upstairs despite his protests

Hotch put him down once they reached the bathroom and started running the bath "why don't you go and pick some pajamas to wear"

"Do I really have to go to bed, I'm not tired and I want to stay up and see Emily some more" he whined

"You can stay up for five minutes if you let me help you wash your hair" Hotch negotiated

"Ok done!"

After his bath Spencer ran downstairs before Hotch could go back on their deal and climbed onto the sofa next to Emily

"Hey Spence" she said as he made himself comfortable next to her.

Within minutes he was yawning and struggling to stay awake, so Emily picked him up and sat him on her lap and cuddled him.

Spencer was going to protest but Hotch he told him to act like a 2 year old and Jack was in the room so he took the opportunity to put his thumb in his mouth and snuggled into Emily and was soon sound asleep

Hotch watched Spencer snuggle into Emily and fall asleep, he couldn't help thinking how adorable he was.

Hotch stood up and walked over to Emily "he's asleep, give him to me and I'll put him in bed" he said quietly

"I got him Hotch" she said standing up with him "just show me where his room is"

Hotch led Emily upstairs to Spencer's room and she tucked him in and kissed his head

"Thanks for everything tonight Prentiss" Hotch said as they walked back downstairs "I really appreciate the help"

"You're welcome Hotch. It looks like Spencer is starting to adjust to his new life" she smiled

"I hope so" was all he said

"Jack" he started "it's time for you to have a shower and get ready for bed, come and say goodbye to Emily"

"Do I have to? Can't I stay up late with you tonight?" He complained

"No not tonight, and it's already past your usual bedtime"

"Fine" Jack said as he came to the door "goodbye Emily" he said moodily

"Goodnight Jack, Goodnight Hotch" Emily waved

"Bye" Hotch said as he closed the door


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone, sorry it's been so long between updates, thanks to DS2010 and Sherryola for reviewing the last chapter.**

 **Please keep reading and reviewing, if anyone has any ideas for things they would like to happen me please feel free to let me know. Thanks!**

Present day:

Hotch was sitting at the table reading the paper when Morgan knocked on the door and Spencer let him in

"Hey Hotch" he said as Hotch walked out of the kitchen

"Hi Morgan," He replied as Spencer put his shoes on

"I guess I'll see you when you get back, good luck" Hotch said going back to his paper as Spencer walked out without even saying goodbye.

"Bye Hotch" Derek called on his way out

Aaron didn't know what to do, if only Spencer would talk to him, or even yell at him, at least then he could get all his feelings out and they could start to work through it. Spencer had every right to blame him for what happened, if only he had gotten to him quicker he could have saved him.

Spencer had told him years ago that he wasn't mad at him but what else could be the problem? Hadn't he done everything to look after Spencer the way he should have? He just couldn't figure it out. He decided that he was going to talk to Spencer when he got home weather he liked it or not

xxxxxxxxx

"So what's happening with you and Hotch?" Morgan asked him getting straight to the point

"Nothing" mumbled Spencer

"Oh really? That didn't seem like nothing to me, you know he only wants to help you don't you?"

"Well I don't need his help Morgan, I'm a grown man remember?" Snapped Reid

"Yeah well maybe you should act like it then, Hotch is just worried about you, and I'm sure he doesn't really want you to move out"

"I know he does, I've just been a burden to him over the last 10 years and despite what he says I know he will be happier without me there"

"Ok pretty boy, but you're wrong you know" Morgan said

xxxxxxxxxx

Dinner time came and went and still Spencer wasn't home, it was unlike him to not even send a short text saying he would be late, finally he decided to text Morgan and see if he was still with him.

"Morgan is Spencer still with you?" He typed quickly

After what seemed like hours but was really only about 15 minutes he got a reply "yeah sorry Hotch we had dinner out and are just having a few drinks then I'll drop him home, sorry I didn't let you know earlier but Spencer said he would text you"

"Ok" was all he wrote back

When Spencer finally came home he could hardly walk. "Goodnight" he mumbled as he walked past Hotch

"Not yet Spencer, we need to talk"

"No we don't Hotch!" he yelled

"How drunk are you?" He said angrily as Spencer tripped over the coffee table

"That's none of your business!" He slurred

"I'm making it my business! We need to talk about the way you have been acting towards me ever since you changed back into your old self"

"We just had a few drinks with dinner and then a few more while we played pool! And I've been acting the same way towards you that I always have!"

"No you're not, you're angry at me and I want to know why!" Hotch yelled

"Because it's your fault!" Spencer yelled back

"What's my fault? That I wasn't there in time to save you? Don't you think I still feel guilty about that?"

"Yes...no...I don't know anymore" Spencer said throwing himself on the couch and putting his head in his hands "can't we talk about this tomorrow?"

"No we can't Spencer!" Hotch said in a slightly calmer voice

All of a sudden Spencer took off running to the bathroom and Hotch could hear him vomiting

"Well I guess it will have to wait until tomorrow after all" he muttered to himself

When the retching finally stopped, Hotch went to check on him "are you ok Spencer?" He called through the door, when he didn't get an answer he opened the door and found Spencer passed out on the floor.

"Spencer" he said softly approaching the young man "come on, let's get you into bed"

Spencer mumbled something under his breath and passed out again

Great, thought Hotch, as he tried to lift him without much luck. "Come on buddy, stand up for me" he said in his best "daddy" voice, and as he had hoped, Spencer tried to stand up.

Eventually with Hotch's help he made it into his bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

"Goodnight Spencer" Hotch said before he left the room "do you need anything?"

"Night dad" he mumbled before passing out again

—

The call came in at about 2 hours later as Hotch lay in bed thinking about what Spencer had said

"Hotchner?" He answered, "Ok, on our way" he said after listening for a moment

After trying for 20 mins to get Spencer out of bed, he finally called JJ, "we'll meet you on the jet, and you can brief us then, I'm having trouble getting Spencer up" he said shortly

"Ok" she said hanging up and turning to the others "that was Hotch, he and Spence will meet us on the jet"

"He's going to kill me" Morgan groaned

"Why what did you do?" Rossi asked

"I took Reid out for a few drinks and I swear he only had like three beers but he was pretty drunk when I dropped him off"

"Uh oh you're in trouble sugar" Garcia said seriously, "now back to the case"

"Ok so, we have a missing children case, mother reported her children missing 2 hours ago. She has two little girls Mackenzie 6 and Amelia 9. She claims she went to check on them before she went to bed and they were gone."

"Wheels up in 20" Rossi said as they all got up from the table

"That sounded weird coming from you" laughed Garcia "I'll have more to tell you once you board the jet"

—

When they boarded the jet they found Hotch already in his usual seat and Reid snoring on the couch.

Morgan was not looking forward to seeing Hotch and the glare he got as he walked past the older man told him he was right to be worried

"Hotch can I just say..." Morgan started

"Not now Morgan" Hotch cut him off "I need to get up to speed on the case and then we'll talk"

"Is Reid ok?" JJ asked

"He's fine JJ; can you please tell me what the case is about?"

"All we know right now is that we are looking for two missing young girls aged 6 and 9, reported missing by their mother"

"Ok" Hotch said shortly looking at the files JJ passed him

Once they were in the air Garcia called them with some additional information "the mother is separated from the girl's biological father and has a new boyfriend. The father says that he hasn't seen the girls in over a month because the mother keeps making excuses to cancel his time. The mother's new boyfriend also has a record for stealing cars and aggravated assault"

"Thanks Garcia" Hotch said ending the video call

"When we land Rossi and I will go to the station and speak to the local Police, then I will go and speak to the mother and her new boyfriend, JJ and Prentiss can speak with the father, and Morgan, you can go to the hotel and babysit Reid" Hotch said glaring at Morgan

"Ok now that's settled, would you ladies like a coffee?" Rossi said taking the girls to the back of the plane so Hotch could speak to Morgan

"Did you even think Derek?" Hotch said angrily

"I...I thought he could handle it. I swear he only had three beers, if I had known it would affect him like this I never would have let him drink anything"

"Three beers doesn't do this! You know he hasn't had a drink in over 10 years! You should have known better!"

"I'm sorry Hotch" Morgan tried to say

"I don't want to hear it Morgan" Hotch said angrily "he's your responsibility now until he's sober enough to work."

"Yes sir" Morgan said and he turned and went to sit closer to Reid in case he woke up

"What's going on Aaron? What's wrong with Reid?" Rossi said coming to sit down once he noticed the coast was clear.

"Morgan took him out and got him drunk, he came home stumbling all over the place and started throwing up" Hotch said

"Oh" said Rossi shortly

"He should have known better!" Exclaimed Hotch angrily.

"Yes he should have, but Reid isn't a child anymore and he can make his own decisions, whether you like it or not"

Hotch just looked over at Reid and didn't answer

xxxxxxxx

10 years ago:

"Hotch I'm not really a child so if I want to have another piece of cake then I will!" Reid demanded

"No you won't, I don't want to be up all night with a sick child because you had too much to eat" Hotch said taking the cake away from him

"Hoooootch!" Spencer whined

"Garcia please don't give him any more sugar today" Hotch said handing the slice of cake back to Garcia and ignoring Reid's pleas

"Of course sir" she said stifling a laugh

"I hate you" Reid called to Hotch's disappearing back

"Sorry baby, daddy's spoken" Garcia said as Spencer reached out for the cake

Reid gave Spencer a sad look "pleeeeeeeeease Aunty Pen" he said clasping his hands together

"Don't look at me like that" she said trying not to look at him "do you want me to get fired?"

xxxxxxxxx

Present day:

Reid was so much easier to deal with when he was a child thought Hotch as he snapped out of the brief flashback.

By the time they landed Spencer had woken up it was still feeling unwell.

"How are you feeling Spencer?" Hotch asked as the jet landed

"Not good" he groaned

"Ok, Morgan is going to take you straight to the hotel, have a shower and some coffee and I expect you at the station ready to work in 2 hours, we have 2 children to find and the clocks ticking. Understand?"

"Yes sir" he replied looking the floor

"So kid, how's the head?" Morgan asked on the way to the hotel

"Not good at all, I really need coffee and food" he replied "what happened last night?"

"I'm so sorry man, I didn't know the affect the beer would have on you or I would not have let you drink"

"It's not your fault Morgan"

"Well according to Hotch it's my fault and I shouldn't have let you drink"

"It's not your fault" Spencer repeated "when you were talking to that waitress I had a few shots of tequila"

"You what?" exclaimed Morgan angrily

"I'm sorry Morgan I didn't know he would blame you, it's my fault for how drunk I got" Spencer said getting out of the car

"Yes it is, how many shots did you have anyway?"

"Four? I think? Maybe five?"

"No wonder you fell over and threw up" Morgan said leading the way to their room "now, go and have a shower while I go and get food and coffee, ok?"

"Ok, hopefully it will help" Spencer said

xxxxxxxxx

"So when was the last time you saw the girls Ms Weston" Hotch asked

"Last night when I tucked them into bed, it was about 7:30?" she cried

"And what time did you notice they were gone?"

"I went to check on them before I went to bed at about 10:30 and they were both gone" she sobbed

"Have you noticed anything unusual lately? Anyone been paying the girls extra attention? Notice anyone following you?" Hotch asked

"No, nothing unusual"

"What about the girl's father?"

"He is the worst father in the world! He hasn't even seen them in months!"

"Ok and why is that?"

"He kept making excuses why he couldn't spend time with them, I assume his new girlfriend had something to do with it" she scoffed

"And where is your boyfriend?" Hotch asked looking at his paperwork, "Steven?"

"He's at work, he's a truck driver, he left for work after I put the girls to bed. He's on his way back now"

"Good we will need to speak to him"

xxxxxxxx

Once Spencer had finished his shower and had a large cup of coffee he was starting to feel better

"So what's the case about? I remember something about kids?" He asked Morgan

"Yeah two little girls are missing, so we're on the clock, I got a text from Hotch he wants us at the station ASAP, are you feeling up to it?"

"Yeah let's go" Spencer said grabbing his bag

xxxxxxxx

"When was the last time you saw your children Mr. Hattie" JJ asked

"It's been over a month now! That stupid bitch is trying to keep my kids away from me!" He shouted while pacing up and down

"Ok Mr. Hattie, I'm going to need you to calm down and tell us what has been going on, why wouldn't she let you see the girls?" Prentiss asked

"She kept making excuses, one weekend they were both too sick to get out of bed, the next time their mother had organized to take them to a friend's birthday party so they didn't want to come and the last time she didn't even have an excuse, she just rang me and told me they weren't coming"

"That must have been really hard for you?" JJ agreed

"Yeah it was, but she's always done things like this, every since we split up and she found her new boyfriend, it's like she trying to cut me out of their lives"

xxxxxxxxxx

"Garcia have you found out anything useful about the mother's new boyfriend? Or the fathers new girlfriend?" Hotch asked

"Not yet sir, the girlfriend seems to be clean, works a normal 9-5 job, has a few close friends according to her social media. The mum's boyfriend, Steven, as we already know has a record; he was just out of jail for aggravated assault when he met Amy"

"Ok can you find out where he is at the moment? Amy said he's working but is on his way back because of what's happened"

"I'll call you back when I find out" she said ending the call

xxxxxxxxxx

"So what do we know so far?" Hotch asked when they all reconvened at the station

"We know that the father and his girlfriend both have alibis for when the girls went missing, they were at her work function" Prentiss replied

"The mother's boyfriend was working so we have no suspects or leads yet" Hotch said

"Has Garcia looked into the mother's family?" Rossi asked

"She's checking on Steven for me now then I'll get her to look into the family's history"

Hotch's phone rang "what have you found Garcia?"

"Well sir I tracked Stevens phone and unless it's been stolen, he is not headed back this way, his truck is headed away from us"

"Who wants to bet he has the kids in that truck?" Rossi said

"How far away is he?" Hotch asked

"At least two hours sir"

" ok Garcia, I need you to call any local police in the towns he's headed towards and get them to set up road blocks and stop him"

"Already on it" she said as she ended the call

"Let's go" he said as they all rushed to their vehicles

xxxxxxxx

"The truck was stopped about an hour from where you are sir" Garcia said as soon as Hotch answered

"The local police had no choice but to shoot Steven. When they asked to search his truck he pulled out a gun, and the police officer shot him in the arm. The kids were found tied and gagged in the back of the truck but luckily they were unhurt" she reported

"Thanks Garcia" Hotch replied

When they arrived they found the children waiting with a welfare officer who was making arrangements to get them home.

Hotch and Prentiss followed a local police officer to the hospital so they could speak to Steven

"Where were you taking the children Steven?" Hotch started

"I was getting rid of them, they were nothing but brats the whole time I was living there, always fighting with each other" he replied angrily

"So what were you going to do with them? Kill them?"

"No I was just going to dump them in the middle of nowhere and let nature take its course" he sneered

Hotch stood and motioned for Emily to follow him, "I think we have learned everything we can from him, he clearly just didn't like kids and wanted them out of the way" he said

"Yeah I think you're right" she agreed.

xxxxxxxxx

"Ok everyone let's go home" Hotch said as they all gathered their things after arriving back at the station

"I spoke to the Pilot and he said there is something wrong with one of the controls, he's having it fixed now and we should be ready to leave at first light" Rossi said

"Ok then, how about dinner?" Said Prentiss "I'm starving"

"Sure I could eat" Reid said

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

10 years earlier:

"Would you like a booster seat for your son sir?" The waitress asked Hotch

"Yes, thank you" Hotch replied

"I don't need that!" Spencer insisted quietly

"Yes you do, you can hardly see over the table, you won't be able to see your food" he smiled as the waitress brought over the booster seat and Hotch settled Reid onto it

"There, much better short stuff" Morgan teased "Now I can see you"

Spencer was just happy to have them all back safe and sound. They had just returned from a dangerous case and Prentiss had been grazed by a stray bullet from the unsub and Spencer insisted that she sit next to him.

While they were all waiting for their food Spencer watched them all and thought about how much he loved them all, he was starting to realize that they really were a family. Hotch was the father, Rossi the grandfather, JJ and Prentiss were both sometimes like a mother figure and sometimes like an aunt and Will was like the uncle he never had, Morgan was the crazy single uncle, and Garcia was like a big sister/ young aunt that just wanted everything to be fun.

When his meal arrived Hotch cut his food into bite sized pieces and Emily tucked a napkin into his shirt like a bib, he laughed to himself as he started eating

"What's so funny handsome?" Prentiss asked

"Nothing mummy" he replied

Hotch nearly spat out his food and the others all stopped and stared at him. He kept his eyes on his food so he wouldn't have to look at any of them; he knew if he looked up he would start laughing

"Well that's interesting" said Morgan raising his eyebrows and staring at Spencer

"Well you guys do make an adorable family!" Garcia exclaimed happily

Hotch turned bright red and looked at Prentiss who just laughed "so do we need to work out some sort of custody arrangement?"

Hotch laughed nervously "I don't think that will be necessary"

Step one complete! Spencer thought to himself

By the time they had all finished eating, it seemed like they had all forgotten about his earlier comment, time to remind them "daddy I'm tired" he said stretching out his arms to Hotch

"Ok buddy, come here" he said picking him up, Spencer laid his head on Hotch's shoulder and waited until they were all saying goodbye then... "I want mommy!" He said loudly reaching for Emily and starting to cry.

"Ok" Hotch said calmly, handing him to Emily. Once they reached the car Emily kissed his cheek and handed him back to Hotch.

They all quickly said their goodbyes and left Emily and Hotch alone with Spencer, "ok what's going on?" Hotch asked him.

"Nothing daddy" he replied innocently

"What's up with all the mummy business?" Emily asked

"Nothing but I just thought that when we are out in public it would be more believable if we were a family, is that wrong? You told me to act like a child in public" he smirked

"No it's not wrong Spencer..." Hotch started

"It's fine baby" Emily said "now you be a good boy for daddy and go straight to sleep when you get home ok?" And she kissed him on the head and walked over to her car.

"Time to go buddy" Hotch said as he strapped him into his car seat.

By the time they got home Spencer was sound asleep. When Hotch lifted him out of the car Spencer snuggled into him and went back to sleep. Now the hard part, trying to get him into bed without waking him up, Hotch thought

Hotch quickly changed him and put him into bed without disturbing him too much then he went downstairs and made himself a coffee. It was cute that Spencer had called Prentiss mummy, but it was making him picture them as a happy family and that wasn't appropriate. Not that he hadn't thought about it though, he had… a lot.

Just as he was getting ready for bed he heard Spencer crying. "What's wrong buddy he asked as he went into the room and sat on the bed.

Spencer threw himself at Hotch "I had an accident!" He wailed

"It's ok buddy, let's get you cleaned up" Hotch said as he stood with Spencer in his arms and took him into the bathroom "it's too late to have a bath, I'll let you have a quick shower on one condition"

"What's that" Spencer said between sobs

"That you let me help you so you don't fall and have an accident, ok?"

Spencer kept sobbing "ok". He kept sobbing the entire time he was in the shower and Hotch was washing him

"Ok let's get out now" Hotch said holding out a towel for him

"Spencer it's ok, come here buddy" Hotch said as he pulled him into a hug "it was just an accident, it was my fault for not waking you up to go to the toilet before bed"

Spencer laid his head on Hotch's shoulder and stopped crying "sorry Hotch" he sniffed.

"There is nothing to be sorry for ok?" Hotch started "but I have something that you're not going to like… but maybe we should try?" the older man went into his bedroom and came back with a pull up

"No no no..." Spencer said as he started crying again "I'm not a baby! I don't need that, I'm sorry I wet the bed, it won't happen again" he said in a rush

"I really think you should try them, just during the night. I know you're not really a baby but your body doesn't know that right now, and isn't it better to not have to worry about wetting the bed? They're just like normal underwear" Hotch reasoned

Spencer hated it when Hotch was right, why couldn't the man be wrong just once! What he said made sense, thought Spencer, but what if the others found out? Oh god, what if Morgan found out? The thought of the others finding out was enough to make him start crying in earnest

Hotch pulled him into another hug and rubbed his back "please just try them tonight? For me?"

Still sobbing Spencer just nodded his head against Hotch's shoulder

"Good man" Hotch praised as he helped Spencer get dressed

Spencer was so embarrassed he couldn't even look at Hotch. Once he was dressed he ran straight into his room but then remembered that his sheets were still wet. Hotch came in and quickly stripped the bed then picked Reid up and took him into his room "I'll wash them in the morning, you can sleep with me tonight" he said as he laid Spencer on his big bed

"I can't sleep here, it's too weird" he whined "and my dog is still in my room, I need him"

Hotch hid his smile as he went to retrieve Spencer's toy dog. As soon as Spencer took the stuffed animal he laid down and cuddled it to his cheek "Goodnight" he mumbled

"Goodnight" Hotch replied as he climbed into bed and turned the light off

When Spencer woke up he found himself snuggled into Hotch's side. Oh well, he thought, might as well go back to sleep and he laid his head back down

"Morning Spencer" Hotch yawned as he woke up and looked down at Reid

"Tired still" said Spencer as he rolled over and snuggled under the blanket with his dog

"Sorry buddy it's time to get up now or we'll be late for work"

"You won't mind if I come in late today will you?" Spencer asked without opening his eyes

All of a sudden Hotch grabbed Spencer and lifted him above his head, "Yes I will mind!" He laughed and put Reid over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, "let's get some breakfast, what do you want?"

"I want pancakes please and coffee"

Hotch sat him in his booster seat at the table "no coffee but pancakes are a great idea" he smiled

"Please daddy?" Spencer said giving Hotch his saddest look

"Don't look at me like that" he said "it's still no"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone, thanks to pechika, sherryola, DS2010 and guests for reviewing the last chapter, and welcome to all the new people following along.**

 **A/N; I couldn't find any info on Hotch's mother so I made it all up, I would love to hear what you all think about her!**

 **Keep reading and reviewing, Thanks!**

Chapter 6

Hotch looked through the peephole and couldn't believe his eyes

"Hello mother" he said as he opened the door "what are you doing here?"

"What a lovely way to greet your mother after so long" she said as she kissed his cheek and

pushed her way past him

Hotch shut the door and turned to face her "how are you?"

"I'm fine thanks, now I'm here to find out why I wasn't informed that I had a new grandson?" She said getting straight to the point.

"How did you find out about Spencer?" He asked

"Haley told me" she replied flippantly "you do know that I talk to her more than I speak to you or your brother"

Mary arched her eyebrows and looked at her son "She also told me about your new girlfriend"

"There is no new girlfriend" Hotch said trying not to get mad at Haley for interfering in his life

"Well anyway, where is this new grandson of mine?" She asked heading into the living room

"He's asleep at the moment, he should be awake shortly, would you like a coffee?" Hotch asked walking into the kitchen and starting to make a fresh pot

"So tell me, how did you come to have a child in your care? You're a single man who works very long hours, how did you get custody? And where are his parents?" Mary asked as she followed him into the kitchen and took a seat at the table

Hotch didn't have an explanation ready for all these questions "mother I'll explain it all to you later ok?" he said trying to change the subject "how have you been?"

"I've been fine thank you, but don't try and change the subject, I want you to answer my

questions"

"Fine, yes I've adopted Spencer, his parents are not capable of looking after him so now he lives with me" Hotch replied

"What about when you work? Who looks after him? You know that's why Haley left, because you were always at work"

"Thanks for that insight" he said sarcastically "I have a lady that I leave him with while I work"

"Well I hope she knows what she doing, did you do a background check? Is she qualified?"

"Yes Mom" he sighed "she is the perfect person to watch him and Spencer loves her"

"You still haven't told me what happened to his parents? Are they criminals you arrested?"

"No mom they're not" he started trying to think of a cover story "they...Spencer, hey buddy come here there's someone who wants to meet you" Hotch said as Spencer walked in and Hotch thanked his lucky stars at the good timing

Spencer ran to Hotch and the older man picked him up and sat him in his lap. "Spencer I would like you to meet my mother, Mary. Mum, this is Spencer, my son"

"Hi" Spencer said shyly sticking his thumb in his mouth, Hotch had never mentioned his mother before so Spencer had assumed she was dead.

"Hi Spencer, I'm your grandmother" she said softly "come here so I can see you" Mary held out her arms expectantly

Spencer turned and hid his face in Hotch's shirt "he's a bit shy Mum, maybe later" Hotch said

wrapping an arm around Spencer protectively

"Well he's going to have to get used to me, I think I'll stay in town for a bit and spend some time with all my boys" she said sipping her coffee

Hotch tried to hide his horror, "oh ok"

"Don't worry I won't impose on you too long, just for tonight, then I'll go to a hotel"

"You don't have to do that, you're welcome to stay here with us" he said more out of obligation than any sense of wanting her to stay

"I think we'll both feel more comfortable if I stay at a hotel" she said

"Daddy can I watch TV?" Spencer asked quietly wanting to remove himself from the awkward situation.

"Sure buddy" Hotch replied

"Watching too much TV is not good for children" Mary said as they walked passed her

Hotch ignored her and rolled his eyes

After he got Spencer settled on the sofa he went back to the kitchen to find his mother looking through his refrigerator

"What are you doing?" Asked Hotch

"Looking to see how well you are feeding that child, you never were known for your cooking

abilities" she said continuing to rifle through his kitchen

"Well it looks like I'll have to go shopping for you, and write down a few easy recipes that even you can make"

"We are eating just fine thank you" he replied shortly

"Maybe I will have to stay here for a bit longer and take care of both of you"

S**t, thought Hotch, how do I get out of this "Of course you can stay but I'm quite capable of

taking care of us"

"Ok then, cook me a healthy dinner that's edible" she challenged

"Ok then I will" declared Hotch

"Well then we better go shopping first, because I'm not sure what you would be able to make with just milk and hotdogs that would be healthy or edible"

Spencer was finding that watching Hotch and his mother interact was fascinating. Hotch never let anyone tell him what to do or question his decisions but with his mother he naturally let her take charge and make decisions for him.

"No no you don't want those tomatoes you want these ones" Mary said picking up Roma

tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes

Hotch just agreed with her "ok" he said

"Which peppers do we want? Red or green?" He asked her

"Red" Mary answered

Spencer had never imagined that Hotch could ever be like this. The others would never believe him.

"Well you certainly are a well behaved child" Mary started looking down at Spencer "would you like grandma to buy you a treat for being such a good boy?"

"Yes please" he said quietly

"Ok come with me and we'll go and choose something" Mary smiled and held out her hand to him.

When they got home Hotch carried in all the groceries that his mother insisted he get, and started putting them away while his mother sat on the sofa with Spencer and read him a book

By the time Hotch had finished making dinner he found his mother and Spencer sitting on the sofa together watching Sesame Street

"Dinners ready" he announced

Spencer didn't object when Mary picked him up and sat him in his booster seat at the table, she tucked a napkin under his collar then proceeded to cut up his chicken into small pieces for him.

"I suppose this is an adequate meal" Mary decided looking at the grilled chicken and vegetables Hotch had cooked

"Thanks Mum" he smiled "See I told you I could cook"

After dinner Mary insisted on giving Spencer a bath "I would love to do it"

"That's ok Mum, Spencer gets shy around new people so I'll give him his bath and then you can tuck him in ok?"

"I suppose so" she responded

When Spencer was in the bath they finally had a chance to talk openly "why didn't you ever

mention your mother Hotch?" Spencer asked quietly

"It just never came up, she lives in California and we only ever talk occasionally. I knew she talked to Haley and Jack but I never thought she would just turn up here. I expected a phone call about you but not a visit, she hasn't left California since Jack was born"

"Sorry I said she can tuck you in, you don't mind do you?"

"No it's fine" Spencer replied "I'll put up with it if it's only until tomorrow" he smiled

"Thanks Spencer"

Mary knocked on the door "is my baby done yet?"

"Yes Mom, I'm just getting him out now" called Hotch

Hotch carried him out of the bathroom once he was dressed and found Mary waiting in Spencer's room for him

"Come here honey, I have a story all picked out for us" she said patting the bed next to her

"Goodnight Daddy" Spencer said giving him a cuddle

"Goodnight Spencer" he replied hugging the small boy back and kissing his head

Mary came downstairs about half an hour later and joined Hotch in the living room "he's asleep"

"So what are you really doing here Mum?" Hotch asked her

"I told you, I came to meet Spencer"

"I know there is something else going on" Hotch said profiling her body language as she shifted in her seat

"No there's not and even if you didn't have Spencer I would still be here because it's been too long since I saw you last" she said "I'm going to make some coffee, do you want one?" She asked walking into the kitchen

When she returned Hotch decided to change tactics "so" he started "how's Paul going? Why

didn't he come with you?" Hotch had always had a bad feeling about his step father but after

asking Garcia to dig into his background and coming up empty he decided to give the guy a

chance

"Uh, he couldn't make it this time" she said sipping her coffee

"Why's that?" Hotch said getting suspicious

"He was just busy, he's trying to write a book you know" she replied "he said that having some peace and quiet would be good"

"Ok then" he said letting the subject drop for now

"So tell me about Spencer's parents" Mary asked visibly relaxing now that Hotch had dropped the subject

"There's not much to tell, his mother is sick and couldn't take care of him and his father left them both. I was in a position to help him and here we are"

"I still think it's a bit strange that they gave you custody but I suppose he's better off with you than he would be with some people. Anyway I'm tired so I'm going to head to bed now, Goodnight Aaron"

"Goodnight Mum" Hotch answered

As soon as she left the room he sent Garcia a text "I need you to find out anything you can about a Paul Thomas he lives in California and he's my mother's husband. And please just keep this between us"

A text came back almost instantly "of course sir"

The next morning Hotch came downstairs to find his mother making breakfast "good morning" she greeted as she flipped another pancake onto an already huge stack

"Good morning" he greeted her "have you been up long?" he asked as he made himself a cup of coffee

"I've been up for ages; I cleaned up the living room, did some dusting and put on a load of washing for you then decided that I would make breakfast." Mary said

"Thanks mom" Hotch said as she walked over and placed a plate of pancakes in front of him

"So ill be gone by the time you get home from work, I'll write down my new number for you and I'll call you tonight to let you know which hotel I'm staying at"

"You know you don't have to leave, you can stay here" he said around a mouthful of pancakes "and why do you have a new phone number?"

"don't talk with your mouth full, I lost my old phone and had to get a new one, that's all, and I know that we will both be more comfortable with me at a motel" she smiled

"Good morning" Spencer said quietly from the doorway

"Good morning baby" Mary said quickly picking him up and sitting him on his booster seat then giving him some pancakes

They all had breakfast and Hotch couldn't stop the nagging feeling that something was going on with his mom that she didn't want to tell him. By the time they were ready to leave he asked her again, "what's going on mom? Is there something going on that you need to tell me about?"

"Everything is fine Aaron, ill speak to you tonight" Mary replied as she kissed Spencer on the cheek and bid them goodbye "goodbye boys, I'll see you soon"

Spencer waved goodbye as Hotch carried him to the car "goodbye mom" he called.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone!**

 **Sorry this update has taken so long, we are currently selling our house so things are a bit crazy here at the moment but I'll try to keep updating regularly.**

 **Hello to everyone that has started following this story, please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think so far.**

 **Thanks to pechika, dextolan, sherryola, DS2010 and guest for reviewing the last chapter, I love hearing what you all think.**

 **Please keep reading and reviewing! Thanks!**

 **WARNING : spanking in this chapter!**

Chapter 7

10 years ago:

Garcia had done a search through Paul's life and found very little except for some recent doctor visits, nothing seemed weird about that but Hotch couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong. Oh well, he thought, if there's something wrong I'm sure mom will eventually tell me or ask for help. Ever since his father died, Mary had been a different person; she no longer took any nonsense from anyone. She was always so controlled by his father that now she wouldn't let anyone take that power away from her again.

Aaron sat in his study finishing off some work, out of the corner of his eye he could see Spencer sitting on the sofa reading. Spencer was reading a book about pyramids that he had found on the bookshelf and every so often he would spout a random fact to Hotch.

The next time Hotch looked up Spencer was gone. "Spencer?" He called but got no response so he quietly got up and listened for anything that would give the toddlers location away. Hearing a noise in the kitchen he smiled and stuck his head around the door to see what he was up to.

"Spencer Hotchner!" He exclaimed as he spotted Reid balanced on the bench looking through a cupboard "what are you doing up there?!"

Spencer jumped when Hotch yelled and grabbed onto the cupboard door to keep from falling. "I just wanted a snack" he sniffed as Hotch lifted him down and put him on the floor "I thought you might like a snack too, it was meant to be a surprise" he said quietly not daring to look up and see Hotch's angry face.

"Time out" Hotch said simply picking him up again and sitting him in the corner "you know what you did was dangerous and you could have been really hurt" he explained

"That's not fair!" Reid cried as he faced the wall

"Two minutes" Hotch said walking out of the room with his heart still beating a mile a minute just thinking about what could have happened.

Spencer sat in the corner and fumed at Hotch, how dare he put him in the corner like a child! He didn't do anything wrong, he was just trying to help himself instead of disrupting him while he was working, what was the big deal? He was tempted to get up and walk away but he knew that would make Hotch even madder so he stayed there and waited.

Hotch made sure he was calm before he went back into the kitchen. "Come here Spencer" he said taking a seat at the table.

Spencer couldn't hide his anger as he went and stood in front of his boss and he stared up at him defiantly and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I didn't do anything wrong!" He started

"Yes you did, you should know better than to climb on the counter. You could have fallen and cracked your head open or broken a bone" Hotch said

"I know what I'm doing! I know I need to be careful! I'm not a child!" He yelled

Hotch leaned closer to the boy so he was looking him in the eye "that's enough with that attitude young man. Unless you want to spend the rest of the afternoon in the corner?"

Spencer couldn't help himself "THAT'S NOT FAIR...OW!" He yelled as Hotch gave him a swat on the butt

"Time out for your attitude this time" said Hotch as picked him up and placed him back in the corner "when your time is up I expect your attitude to have changed, understand?"

"Yes sir" Spencer replied quietly

Hotch hated to have to discipline him but Spencer had to learn that he couldn't put himself into situations where he could get hurt. After two minutes Hotch returned to the kitchen and could see Reid's small body shaking as he cried quietly in the corner.

"Come here buddy" he said kneeling down next to him. Spencer stood and looked at Hotch for a minute then fell into his outstretched arms and cried.

"Shhh, it's ok" Hotch said as he rubbed Spencer's small back and tried to calm him down. "It's all over now, ok" he smiled as he felt Spencer nod against his chest and slowly stop crying.

"I'm sorry daddy" he said meekly

"I'm sorry too" started Hotch "I don't want to spank you but I need you to listen when I tell you not to do something, ok?"

"Ok"

"Good man" praised Hotch "now I'm nearly done with my paperwork and then I was thinking we could go to the park?"

"Ok"

Hotch sat Spencer in his booster seat and gave him two cookies and some juice "can we invite the others?" He asked Hotch

"Sure, I'll send them all a text and see who's free"

An hour later they arrived at the park and found Rossi with Mudgie, Prentiss and Garcia waiting for them "hi honey bun" said Penelope as Spencer raced over to her and gave her a hug

"Hi Garcia" he smiled

"Hi Mudgie!" He exclaimed giving the dog a pat

"What sound we do first? Swings? Slide?" Garcia asked happily

"Swings!" He shouted running over to the play equipment

Garcia and Reid were having a competition to see who could swing the highest, Hotch smiled as Spencer squealed with delight as Rossi pushed him higher and higher. It was great to see him having fun like a real child.

When he was tired of the swings Spencer decide he wanted to play fetch with Mudgie. The toddler couldn't throw the ball very far but the dog loved it anyway.

"Maybe you should get him a puppy Aaron?" Laughed Rossi as they sat on the grass watching the boy and the dog

"I don't think so Dave, what would I do with it when we are out of town?" He laughed

"Oh I could watch it for you!" Offered Garcia "every little boy needs a puppy!"

"Thanks Garcia but no, Spence can get into enough trouble all by himself without an accomplice" Hotch said telling them about Spencer's climbing adventures earlier that day.

All of a sudden a man raced out from behind a tree and grabbed Spencer and took off running toward the car park

"DADDY!" He screamed over the man's shoulder. Mudgie took off growling and barking and trying to grab the man's leg as he ran towards his car. Just before he reached the car park, Mudgie grabbed his leg and the man fell backwards and dropped Spencer as he tried to kick at the dog.

The others were there instantly, Emily ran to Spencer and picked him up checking him for any injuries as Hotch and Rossi pinned the man down and Garcia was already on the phone to the police station.

Spencer grabbed Emily's shirt and buried his face in her shoulder as the shock of the near abduction sunk in and he started crying. "It's ok honey, I got ya, you're ok" she said as she rocked him and rubbed his small back "shhhh shhh shhh" she murmured

"Why were you trying to take my son?" Hotch growled

"I don't know" the man said stupidly "let me go"

Hotch had to stop himself from knocking the man out "the police will be here in a minute and I'm sure they will want to speak to you"

"Get your stupid dog off my leg" the man demanded shaking his leg trying to dislodge Mudgie, the dog just growled and kept his grip

"If you lay still he won't hurt you" Rossi said angrily "when the police get here then he'll let you go"

As soon as they saw the police car, Rossi called Mudgie off and he and Hotch hauled the man to his feet.

"I've got him Hotch, go to Spencer" Rossi said

Hotch approached the two women who were trying to calm the crying child, "Spencer" Hotch said quietly "come to daddy"

"Daddy!" Spencer cried practically throwing himself into Hotch's arms. "It's ok now, you're safe" he said softly cuddling Spencer to his chest and rubbing his back.

Hotch spoke briefly with the police and then Rossi went to the police station with them to give a detailed statement and the others all went back to Hotch's house.

Spencer was still shaking when they got home; it scared him to realize how vulnerable he was now. There was no way he could defend himself from a grown adult, all the kicking and struggling he did today had no affect at all on the man that had grabbed him.

Garcia sat on the sofa with Spencer in her lap while Hotch made a pot of coffee for everyone. "My poor little snuggle bunny, it's ok now you're home and safe" she said as she cuddled him.

"How you doing Spencer?" Emily asked as she came into the room carrying a hot chocolate for him

"I'm ok" he sighed "I just don't like feeling helpless"

"I know honey, but don't worry we'll look after you and maybe we should employ Mudgie as a guard dog" she smiled

By the time Rossi returned Spencer had fallen asleep on Garcia's lap. "What happened Dave?" Asked Hotch

"The usual, they have arrested him and they believe they will be able to link him to 3 other kidnapping cases"

"Well Good!" Declared Garcia "that should keep him away from any more sweet little angels"

"Let's hope so" Hotch agreed

That night was a restless one, about an hour after Spencer went to bed, Hotch was relaxing watching a movie when Spencer came running into the room crying and flew into Hotch's lap.

"What's wrong Spencer?" He asked as Spencer grabbed hold of his shirt and buried his head in his chest and cried.

"I...I...had a nightmare!" He sobbed "the man took me and you couldn't catch him"

"Oh buddy" Hotch said wrapping his arms around his son and kissing his forehead "it's ok now, you're safe. I promise he can't get you"

Spencer just sobbed until he fell asleep in Hotch's arms. That was the start of a long night for them both. Aaron took Spencer to bed with him but the nightmares didn't stop, every couple of hours Spencer would wake up crying and and clutching onto Hotch until he fell asleep again.

 **A/N: I feel like this chapter ended weirdly but my brain is a bit overloaded at the moment so please bear with me. If anyone has any ideas or things they would like to see happen in future chapters please let me know, thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone, sorry it been soooo long between chapters, i have a few more chapters already written so they will all be up shortly. Thanks for reading and please keep leaving reviews so i know what you like and what parts are no good.**

Chapter 8

10 years ago:

Spencer had learnt pretty quickly that the easiest way to get what he wanted was to smile cutely and call Hotch daddy.

"Daddy," Spencer smiled "can I please have my gun back?" he asked while Hotch had the safe open and was retrieving his own gun.

Hotch was taken aback, "Why do you want your gun back?"

"In case someone tries to take me again" he replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world

Hotch crouched down to look at Spencer "No, you can't have your gun back, you know it's not safe for you to use it at the moment" he said calmly

"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Spencer shouted and stomped his foot "I'm not a _REAL_ child!"

Hotch had to stop himself smiling at how cute Spencer looked with his pouty face "No you're not a child and that's why you should be able to understand how dangerous it would be for you to have a gun"

" _Please_ daddy?" he tried pleading

Hotch pulled Spencer into a hug, "I'm sorry buddy but the answers still no"

"How am I supposed to protect myself then?" he asked angrily as he pushed away from Hotch

"You don't need to worry about that, ill protect you"

"You're not always around you know!" Spencer yelled

"If I'm not around, you will always be with someone I trust to protect you the same as I would"

Xxxxxxxx

When they arrived at the office Spencer ran straight to Emily.

"Hey Spen..."

"Emily, Hotch won't let me have my gun back, tell him I need it!" he interrupted

Emily looked at Hotch over Spencer's head who just shrugged his shoulders and smiled at her. "Sorry pumpkin but he's the boss and what he says goes"

Spencer stomped over to his desk "you're so mean" he said just loudly enough for her to hear it.

"Thanks Hotch, now I'm the bad guy" she smiled

"Better you than me" he laughed as he headed toward his office

Spencer spent the rest of the morning in a huff and tried his best to ignore the rest of the team.

After lunch the team got called away for a case in LA. Before they left Hotch tried to make Spencer feel better, "You know that I won't let you put yourself in danger right?" he asked softly trying to get Spencer to look at him.

"Yes" came a soft reply as Spencer stared at the floor

"And you know that it's too dangerous for you to have a gun right now?"

"Yes"

"Ok then, I have to go but you behave yourself for Garcia ok?"

"Yes sir" Spencer said still looking at the floor

"Can I have a hug goodbye?"

Spencer gave him a quick hug and then walked away

"Don't worry sir, I'll talk to him and I'm sure that he will be fine by the time you get back" Garcia smiled

"Thanks" was all he said has he rushed to catch up with the others

"Don't worry poppet" Garcia started "after we finish this case we'll make some brownies ok? Brownies make everything better" she smiled

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Present day:

Spencer put his gun in the safe with a sigh. They had just returned from a case where a man had been taking women off the streets and chopping them into small pieces while they were alive to see how long they lasted before they died. Right now all he wanted was to curl up in bed with a book and try not to think about the women they were not quick enough to save

"Are you ok Reid?" Hotch asked

"Yeah I'm ok; I just can't stop thinking about the case. If I had just worked out his location quicker we could have saved those last two women."

"I know it's hard but we have to try not to dwell on the "what ifs", if I did that for every case I would probably be a complete mess"

"Yeah I know" he agreed reluctantly

"Hey I was thinking that tomorrow we could do something together?" Hotch said trying to change the subject

"Yeah...maybe... what did you have in mind?"

"I don't know" he confessed "maybe a movie? Or we could go to that second-hand bookshop you love? Or go fishing?"

Reid smiled "since when do you like to fish?"

"Well maybe I could learn to love it" laughed Hotch

Reid shifted uncomfortably "there are actually a few apartments that I would like to go and look at if you want to come with me?"

Hotch quickly hid the disappointment that flashed on his face "sure, that sounds good" he said trying to force himself to smile

"Well it's late," said Reid awkwardly "goodnight dad"

"Goodnight son" Hotch replied automatically

Xxxxxxxx

10 years ago:

Hotch was having a lot of trouble trying to find activities for Spencer outside of work. He had hoped that taking Spencer along to Jack's soccer games on the weekends might make him want to join in but so far Spencer had shown no interest. When Jack was around Spencer was happy to do all the things that normal kids love to do like play cars and trains, play hide and seek, and he happily played whatever crazy game jack made up and even let Jack talk him into pulling pranks on Hotch. Whenever Jack was not with them though Spencer would more often than not be curled up with a book or watching some crazy documentary.

"Did you ever have any hobbies when you were a child Spencer" Hotch asked one night while they were eating dinner

"No, not really, I was always too busy looking after mum and the only activity we did together was read. She would let me choose a book and then read to me for hours"

"Well then are there any sports or activities that you always wanted to try but didn't have a chance to?"

Spencer thought about it for a while "I never learnt how to ride a bike, because I never had one. I always thought that looked like fun"

"Hmm, that could probably be arranged, anything else?" Hotch smiled already thinking about buying him the perfect bike

"I'll have a think about it and let you know, if that's ok?" Spencer said quietly

"Sure buddy you just let me know" Hotch smiled

Xxxxxxxx

"Hey boy wonder, I was wondering if you would like to come to my place this weekend and hang out with me?" Morgan asked on Friday afternoon while they were getting ready to leave for the day

Spencer started bouncing around at the thought of a fun weekend with Morgan. "Yes yes yes!"

"Ok good" Morgan laughed "you better go and make sure Hotch doesn't mind though"

Spencer took off towards Hotch's office but his little legs couldn't keep up with him and he fell on the stairs hard and started crying. Hotch rushed out of his office to see the whole team running towards Spencer.

"What happened?" he asked as he got to Spencers side first

Spencer got up and threw himself at Hotch who had to steady himself so he didn't fall backwards

"I tripped on the...the... stairs" Spencer wailed "and I hurt my kneeee" he cried

"Let's go have a look" Hotch said calmly picking him up and carrying him into his office followed by the rest of his team members

"Are you ok Spence?" JJ asked with concern as Hotch sat him on the couch and pulled up his pant leg to look at his knee

"I'm ok" Spencer sniffed embarrassed to be caught crying in front of everyone in the office like a baby

"Well I think that your knee will be fine buddy" Hotch said righting Spencers pants and rubbing his knee

"It hurts" he said quietly climbing into Hotch's lap

"Sorry Hotch it was my fault that he tripped, I asked him if he wanted to stay at my place tonight and he was running up here to ask you" said Morgan

"It's not your fault Morgan, it's my stupid baby coordination" Spencer said with contempt and leaned into Hotch

"So you want to go to Morgan's place do you?" Hotch smiled down at Reid

All of a sudden Spencer wasn't sure he wanted to go with Morgan, would Morgan be able to take care of him like Hotch? What if Morgan got a call from some woman and decided to go out and leave him alone? What if he had another accident or a nightmare?

"Umm..."

"I promise that we'll have fun short stuff" Morgan said leaning over to ruffle his hair "and I promise not to let you fall down the stairs" he smiled trying to make Spencer smile too

"It's ok with me if you want to go Spencer" Hotch said

Spencer hesitated "ok" he said quietly

"Great!" exclaimed Morgan

"Ill drop him off to you in a little while Morgan, we have to go home first and get his stuff ok?"

"Ok I'll see you soon!" Morgan said happily

Once Morgan and the others had left his office Spencer shared his concerns with Hotch

"I'm sure Morgan wouldn't leave you alone and I'm sure that if any more accidents happen that Morgan can take good care of you but if you're worried then just take your phone with you so you can call or text me if you want to come home ok?"

"Ok" Spencer agreed

When they arrived at Morgans an hour later, Hotch gave him a lecture for Spencers benefit

"Make sure he doesn't eat too much sugar, or he won't sleep, make sure that he goes to bed at a reasonable time, make sure he brushes his teeth before bed, and make sure you keep an eye on him Morgan, we don't want any more accidents do we? And don't go out and leave him by himself" he gave Morgan his famous Hotch glare and winked at Spencer who giggled behind his hand so Morgan didn't see

"Its ok Hotch, I have looked after kids before you know"

"I'm not a kid!" Spencer insisted

"Ok, sorry kid, now say goodbye to your dad so we can have some fun already!"

Hotch picked Spencer up and kissed him on the forehead, "call me if you need me ok?"

"I will, bye daddy" Spencer waved as Hotch turned and walked back to his car.

 **Sorry it's not a very long chapter, thanks for reading!**


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